Neurological symptoms that don't sound like IBD... Help???

I have a 12 year old ball python that began exhibiting some strange behaviors since over a month ago. He was always extremely docile but all of a sudden he would occassionally become extremely aggressive for no apparent reason. About a couple weeks later i was holding him and his whole body lurched forward repeatedly, and at first i thought he was trying to bite me, but i realized he wasnt even opening his mouth. Once managed to get him back into his enclosure, he still did the same thing, sometimes even hitting the side of the tub at about 3 to 5 second intervals. It almost seemed like a seizure. After that i noticed the aggression off and on, and sometimes when i touched him his body would jerk once or twice, but not like it did the first time. Today i took him out to clean his cage, and when i touched him his body started jerking again so i got him in his enclosure and his head sort of corkscrewed while he was having the spasms.

I had him seperated from the other snakes when i first noticed it a while ago. I havnt introduced any new snakes within the past 6 months, havnt had any mite breakouts or any other health issues. He is still eating and pooping normally, and does not show any signs of neurological issues when hunting and eating. The symptoms dont seem like IBD, especially since its been over a month and he is completely healthy otherwise. Are there any other known neurological issues that ball pythons can get? I plan on taking him to the vet soon, but I'm not sure what they can do other than test for IBD. If anyone has any ideas that would be great

What are the temps in the enclosure? The only reason I ask is because overheating can cause permanent neurological damage...

Wow, I can't remember ever hearing about a BP with this kind of behavior. It almost sounds like he may have had a mini stroke event. It's really interesting that being handled or touched seem to set him off.

Yeah, I'm not sure what a Vet can do other than rule out IBD.

Really sorry to hear about this, Alyssa. I hope someone with experience in this area can chime in. Maybe Skiploader has seen this before?

The whole snake room is kept between 80 and 84 degrees and the parts of the tubs where the heat strips are stay at 94. The only variation from that is during breeding season when we drop the temps just a bit

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Originally Posted by BPGirl

The whole snake room is kept between 80 and 84 degrees and the parts of the tubs where the heat strips are stay at 94. The only variation from that is during breeding season when we drop the temps just a bit

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That's too bad, that's honestly the only other thing that came to mind :( Good luck with everything! That is definitely scary behavior.

Hey Alyssa! It's good to see you again, but I hate that it has to be this way. :(

The first thing that comes to mind for me when I hear a story like this is some kind of chemical contaminant. Is it possible that the snake was exposed to some insecticide or cleaning agent? House paint or thinners or aerosol spray? Even computer "canned air" can be dangerous. All sorts of things.

The other thing that comes to mind, if everything else is ruled out, is a tumor somewhere on the nervous system. :(

But these are just guesses. I don't have any medical training. I'm afraid this isn't something anyone here can help "fix" but maybe we can at least arm you with enough questions to help a vet figure out what might be going on.

Nothing like that as far as I know. And my family generally doesnt go into the snake room, so i doubt one of them would have had any reason to clean or spray anything there. We painted my sisters room which is down the hall about a year ago but left the snake room door closed and the window open the whole time to make sure it didnt get to them. The only cleaning solution i use for the cages is a diluted chlorhexidine solution or anti-bacterial soap

Has it been exposed to provent a mite. That stuff can do it if its not used right.

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Originally Posted by snake lab

Has it been exposed to provent a mite. That stuff can do it if its not used right.

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I use black knight for mites when necessary, but i havnt had a problem with mites since i bought a female ball from scales and tales over 5 years ago. Even when that happened, i only had to treat her cage because she was quarantined. He has never needed to be treated for mites, and even when i did use the black knight i was very careful with it because of how strong it is

I was just hoping that somebody might have heard of something like this before. Ive ruled out all of the possibilities I can think of, and I really just dont know what to think at this point except take him in to the vet when I have the money, which won't be until the end of the month at the earliest